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I wouldn't say the ponds are unmanaged. I say this because there is human influence in the form of harvest. In your pics I did notice LMB throughout the ranges you mentioned harvested. Anyways, I always like to see and encourage harvest and use of farm ponds like yours.
So understanding that you are giving care to your bride and have a lot on your plate, I will suggest a couple of things to you that you can have your kids and grandkids do that can influence your ponds in ways you might like very much.
1. Actually first I would like to point out a great way to clean bullheads if you don't know about it already. My grandad did it this way. It's called shucking. There is a YouTube video here : .
2. Consider adding around 40 8" bullies to your LMB pond each year. Harvest them when they exceed 12". Should take no more 2 years for the bullhead to reach that size. They will take some insects away from the LMB but will provide more energy than that in YOY. Don't expect successful recruitment of the YOY. They probably will not reach sizes exceeding 4". So consider it a ladder that is done yearly. The stock rate could be lower or 10 to 20 higher. Just whatever the kids and grandkids can manage. This gives the LMB more fish to eat and will grow some dandy BH.
3. You complained about the BH in your small ponds being small. If you would like for them to be larger ... consider doing this. In the largest of your small ponds, add one (and only one) LMB. It should be large enough to consume the most abundant size of BH. Go with at least 3 times that length. You should see outstanding growth of the LMB. If not, it wasn't large enough. This arrangement should noticeably improve the condition and sizes of BH in that pond. You might even grow a 6 or 7 lb LMB. Use live bait to remove the LMB after around 4 or 5 years and replace. I have a friend who manages a pond with YP in this way. He introduced me to this concept of a single LMB in a small pond.
